Author: Peter Berger
Date: 10:03:45 03/06/01
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On March 06, 2001 at 07:54:26, Jorge Pichard wrote: >My nephew Enrique just turn 9 Sunday and my sister which lives 300 miles away >from me told me that Enrique has been telling her that he would like to learn >how to play chess like his uncle. When my sister told me that, I told her that I >would send him one of my chess program (Nimzo 8) as a gift for his birthday. >Now I also told her that she should start by getting him a good chess teacher >who can spend a least 3 hours every saturday, but that he could also pratice >against Nimzo 8 to improve the opening and middlegame where Nimzo 8 can help him >improve on his tactics. > >PS: Can somebody provide good tips which will help a child to improve his chess >skills by using Nimzo 8. Please provide step by step intructions so I can >paste it and email it to my nephews. For instance what features of this >chessbase product will help him the most etc... > >Pichard. It must be nice to see your nephew following your footsteps and wanting to learn chess . I think though that Nimzo is a pretty useless tool here ; the handicap levels are weakening the program for sure but offer very little fun for a child and I suspect the explanations of the program are barely understandable . Better than any chessprogram would be a chessclub with children of similar age but that might not be possible . Lessons by strong players are not necessary at this stage to my experience . When it is about chessprograms I am convinced there is _one_ solution : Chessmaster . On my last trip I took Chessmaster with me and fooled around with it a lot ; for example I had a look at many lessons for beginners and really loved them . The Kid's room is cool , too . I wasted a whole evening in the Kid's room playing rated bullet games against various personalities ( mostly little Josh ) using the Dog's chesspieces . It was like blindchess for me , pretty good training :-) The commented games give a good idea about competition and the excitement involved . There is a BIG disadvantage though : it is all in English , so useless for a non-English-speaking child : what a shame !! The biggest advantage is that it is very close to a free program ; CM7000 or CM6000 can be bought for nearly nothing . So if this possiblity is not availlable and the child already learned the basic rules I think online chess might be more fun than a dull chessprogram . At Yahoo for example there are many kids playing , and there is also the possibility to chat with others . And ; last but not least : what will _you_ do without your Nimzo 8 copy , enthusiastic Nimzo fan :-) ? Cheers. pete
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